U.N. official to be fellow

The Yale Center for the Study of Globalization will add another dignitary to its Visiting Distinguished Fellow program this spring when former United Nations Deputy Secretary General Mark Malloch Brown comes to campus.

Malloch Brown served as the administrator of the United Nations Development Program from July 1999 to August 2005, overseeing a budget of $4 billion and pursuing development projects in 166 nations worldwide. From April 2006 until the end of the year, he was the deputy secretary general of the U.N., where he worked with former Secretary General Kofi Annan on a multitude of topics ranging from Darfur to U.N. reform.

During his tenure as deputy secretary general, Malloch Brown made comments about the U.S.-U.N. relationship that sparked a public row with John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Malloch Brown vacated his post along with Annan on Dec. 31, 2006.

Malloch Brown, who will concentrate on writing a book on leadership in a globalized world during his fellowship, will arrive in New Haven in February and plans to stay through June 2007, according to Haynie Wheeler, associate director of the YCSG.

Justin Leites ’88 worked at the UNDP with Malloch Brown starting in 1992. He said Malloch Brown’s book will likely draw on the entrepreneurial strategy of management that he brought to the program in the mid-1990s.

“He has already practiced what he’ll be preaching,” Leites said.

According to Yale International Security Studies Fellow Jean Krasno, Malloch Brown’s plans follow in the footsteps of Louise Frechette, the only other person to occupy the deputy secretary general post since it was established in 1997. Frechette is now a distinguished fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, which is associated with Waterloo University in Canada.

Krasno also suggested that Malloch Brown’s friendship with former UNDP administrator and current Yale School of Forestry Dean Gus Speth may have been one factor that brought Malloch Brown to Yale.

Malloch Brown, who is taking time off between his U.N. duties and the fellowship, could not be reached for comment.

Past fellows at the YCSG have included Scott Barrett, now the director of the International Policy Program at Johns Hopkins University, and Jonathan Schell, who has written extensively on nuclear issues and currently teaches an undergraduate class called “Dilemmas of the Nuclear Age.”

Both Barrett and Schell spoke highly of their time as YCSG fellows.

“It was an unbelievably wonderful time,” Barrett said of his fellowship. “I loved it.”

Schell said in an e-mail that fellows have the opportunity to take part in a “rich array” of activities.

“The invitations pour in from around the University, and the only problem is when to say no,” he said.

But some students said fellows are relatively isolated in the YCSG, so undergraduates cannot fully reap the benefits of the fellows’ presence at Yale.

“It seems like a great opportunity, but there aren’t enough avenues to interact with them,” Shazan Jiwa ’09 said.

While Barrett mentioned his experiences lecturing graduates and students at the School of Forestry, he could not specifically remember any interaction with undergraduates. He said he also spent a large amount of time “locked up in a room” writing during the fellowship.

YCSG Associate Director Haynie Wheeler said that although Malloch Brown will be working on his book during his time here, the center also expects him to integrate with the Yale community.

“That’s part of the agreement: get involved,” she said.

Malloch Brown will be succeeded in his position at the U.N. by Dr. Asha-Rose Migiro, the former Minister of F